Changing Careers

Mike
Chang

A decision I never regretted

Hello again! Last time, I left myself in the middle of the forest with a biochem degree and a year of forestry expertise. At that time, I was able to look at and smell a piece of wood and from the grain, texture and scent determine the species of tree from which the wood originated!! Technically...


Clement
Weinberger

How I got into freelance writing: An unintended consequence?

We've all been there. It's Sunday afternoon and the feeling of dread hits. Tomorrow is Monday and it's the start of another work week. I'd been working at a medical communications agency for about 3 years doing medical writing and publication planning. I was their one and only in-house PhD. It s...


Marina
Enachi

9 New Webinars: Transitioning to Industry Jobs and Beyond

We would like to let you know about the free webinars coming soon on Bio Careers.  All you need is your computer and internet access to attend. On the day of the webinar, we'll open the room twenty minutes prior to the start so you'll have plenty of time to get your spot and check that you...


Gaia
Vasiliver-Shamis

Taking the leap of faith – saying goodbye to the bench

Humans are creatures of habit, and since scientists are mostly humans too (pending on their exposure level to ethidium bromide) they get comfortable at their little benches.  And even if they really want to do something else they tend to stick with what’s familiar and rather keep their pipett...


Dr
27

My reasons to move elsewhere in academia

In my last entry, I discussed how I got started in what I call the epic job search of 2011. The epic job search spanned the late fall of 2010 to May of 2011, but it wasn’t until January of 2011 that I got full force on the job applications/interviewing cycle. It wasn’t an easy decision, but once...


Dr
27

What started me on the quest to a staff scientist position?

Late in 2010, I became frustrated with my postdoc. I had been a fairly productive student in grad school, busy with publications and presentations to back it up. Yet, the more time passed, the more I became frustrated and angry with my postdoc and my lab. Let me back up a bit and give some context.&...


Dr
27

27 and a PhD

Greetings dear reader. My name is Stephanie (not my real name). I’m a 30 year old scientist in NYC. Originally I started my blog (twentysevenandaphd.wordpress.com) two months prior to my thesis defense. I was 27 at the time, hoping that I’d defend before turning 28. My defense happened that summ...


Sarah
Owen

Finding My Way Out of the Lab

I was post-qualifying exam and officially a third-year.  Allegedly the “third year” status means that you have more time to focus on your research projects and that you’re almost done teaching.  It also seemed to mean that you were in this “gap” period in grad school: post-qualif...